


Creature Comfort

by colazitron



Series: Fic Advent 2014 [11]
Category: Stereo Kicks (Band)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-11
Updated: 2014-12-11
Packaged: 2018-03-01 02:36:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,080
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2756408
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/colazitron/pseuds/colazitron
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Barclay finds Reece in need of comforting. He's happy to help.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Creature Comfort

"Hiya", Barclay says, walking over to where Reece appears to be staring out of the window for no good reason at all. Reece looks up at him and gives him a wan smile. 

“Hi, Barclay,” he says. 

Usually this is Tom's thing; making sure no one's moping by themselves and staring out of the window watching a dreary November morning and the... crows on the dead branch right outside the window. Lovely. Will lift the mood right up, that, Barclay's sure. 

Anyway. It's Tom's thing, usually but for one Tom is currently otherwise occupied, probably petting Charlie's hair and trying to get him to calm down after a bit of a hard rehearsal earlier and for another Reece has somehow taken to Barclay. Tom has obviously noticed, since he's not subtle about letting Barclay know that he considers Reece Barclay's responsibility. He's not subtle about the other things of Barclay's he considers Reece either, but Barclay tries not to think about that. Tom's a little shit sometimes. It's probably just the way he takes care of _Barclay_ , by waggling his eyebrows obnoxiously and making kissy faces because he knows it'll make Barclay roll his eyes and blush and then he'll not be thinking about anything more serious. 

"How are you doing?" Barclay asks and sits down on the floor by the window with Reece. 

Reece shrugs his shoulders and gives another one of those not-exactly-smiles that don't suit his sharp face at all. 

"Feeling a bit homesick, I suppose," Reece says. 

"Eager to go home already?" Barclay teases and Reece lets a slightly wider smile shine through for a brief moment. Then he shrugs again. 

"Nah. Just... don't always feel like I fit in, yeah? Tiny little Reece with his sixth form plans. At home I'm less... different." 

"Oh," Barclay says, thrown for a moment. 

Reece is tiny. And he does have the best grades out of all eight of them. Sure, Tom and Barclay already have jobs, but Barclay's not very emotionally attached to his and Tom's clearly ready to give his up as well. Out of all of them - save Charlie, because he's An Actual Child - Reece is probably the one who has his future worked out outside of the possibility of this band the most. 

If Barclay's honest he's equally baffled and flattered by how Reece has latched on to him a little bit. He doesn't see what he could possibly have in common with him, or to offer him. He's not smart like Reece, never did well at school. He's a bit of a hulking person, not at all like the almost elfin sharpness to Reece's features. And yet... Reece gravitates towards him. It may be all Tom teasing, but Barclay's not blind. He does see _why_ Tom teases. 

"D'you want me to...?" he asks, inclining his head towards the door. 

"No," Reece says immediately and then mumbles the rest of the sentence, "'s better when you're around." 

That may be a bit of a blush on Reece's cheeks. But if it is, then Barclay's mirroring it, judging by the heat in his cheeks, so he's not going to mention it. 

"Up for a cuddle then?" he asks instead. The blush on Reece's cheeks gets a little deeper but he nods and shuffles over to Barclay on his knees. They fall into a hug that's in all honesty not the most comfortable, with Reece on his knees and Barclay's back hunched over, but it's warm and Reece relaxes in it, so Barclay's not about to complain. 

"'m really glad you're here," Reece mumbles into Barclay's neck and holds him a little tighter, like he wants to keep Barclay from pulling back. It's okay. Barclay's not sure what to say anyway. 

Eventually it's Reece who pulls back, sorts out his knees so he's mostly cross-legged in the v of Barclay's spread out on the floor. He's still holding on to one of Barclay's sleeves and they're probably closer than is strictly mate-y. Barclay feels a bit as though the world has been suspended in some sort of time out when Reece looks up and looks at his lips and then leans just a bit closer, like he's going to--

So of course that's when the door flies open and Tom stands in the doorway, hands on his hips. 

"There you are. Come on. They want us for the cameras." 

Reece and Barclay have both flinched back, but when Barclay meets Tom's eyes, he can see the calculating way Tom's gaze flits back between them. 

"Um," Reece tries to say, eyes wide. Tom cuts him off. 

"I've got to go find Charlie and James. Rehearsal room. _Five minutes_. Don't be late." 

He points his finger at each of them with a stern expression like he's actually their dad and closes the door on his way out. 

Reece's eyes are wide when they come back to Barclay's, who's currently trying to decide whether he wants to strangle Tom or fling himself out of the window. Barclay tries a smile instead. 

Reece blushes and then yanks his hand back, seemingly noticing he'd been holding on to Barclay the whole time. 

"Sorry!" he says, clutching his hand to his chest as if he's holding it back from reaching out again. 

"It's alright," Barclay says and scratches at the back of his neck. "I didn't mind." 

They fall silent then and Barclay can't even bring himself to think that they're wasting their five minutes, because he likes this as well. Just sitting here with Reece and not really doing anything. Still. 

"We should get going, probably," he says, "and climbs to his feet, offering Reece a hand up. He's so easy to pull up, a tiny twig of a boy, really. Barclay can literally bench press him. 

He takes a step towards the door, but then Reece's hand wraps around his wrist again and holds him back. 

"Thanks," he says and then goes up to his tip toes and presses his lips very lightly against Barclay's. 

Barclay feels frozen to the spot, bringing his hand up to his mouth in disbelief while Reece hurries to leave. It takes him vanishing behind the door to spur Barclay into action, but he still catches up with Reece easily in the corridor. He weaves his fingers through Reece's to squeeze his hand briefly before dropping it. They need to talk about this later, probably, but. 

Reece smiles up at him. That's good enough for now. 


End file.
